Francisco Albear Fernández de Lara

He was born in the Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro de La Habana, a figure who today symbolizes Cuban engineers, not only for his professional merits, but for his whole life dedicated to the social development of the Island that saw him born.

His father, the commander of the aforementioned military fortress, Colonel of Engineers Francisco José de Albear y Hernández, was also a native of La Habana, and his mother, Micaela Fernández de Lara y Vargas, from Trinidad, which is why his closest relative from the Peninsula was his paternal grandfather: Francisco Antonio de Albear y Palacios, who from Hoz de Marrón, Santander, arrived in Cuba as a military officer in 1762, and participated in the defense of La Habana against the English.

Orphaned of his father at age 8, and continuing the family tradition, in 1826, Francisco de Albear requested his admission to the Regimiento de Dragones de América, where he obtained the rank of Cadet.

From an early age he demonstrated his aptitude for study, through his time at the Escuela Concepción and the Colegio Buenavista. At the latter he was awarded a certificate of honor, which would be given to him in 1832 by Domingo del Monte, on behalf of the Real Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País de La Habana. In July 1835 he departed for Spain to take the entrance exams for the Academia de Ingenieros de Guadalajara, which he passed a year later with outstanding grades, graduating with the same qualifications in 1839, when he obtained the rank of lieutenant of the Real Cuerpo de Ingenieros.

As a result of the tense situation created in Spain, resulting from the war that broke out upon the death of King Fernando VII, between the defenders of the rights to the throne of his daughter Isabel II and the Carlist forces, Albear would participate prominently in that armed conflict. From 1841 onwards he served as a professor at the aforementioned Academy, and when the insurrection of 1843 broke out against the Regent Espartero, he also distinguished himself for his courageous performance in the defense of that institution.

In 1844 he was assigned to the Dirección Subinspección del Arma de Ingenieros on the Island of Cuba, and was given a preliminary service commission to different European countries, for the purpose of examining the most advanced technology applicable to the greatest of the Antilles. Thus, he undertook a fruitful tour through France, Belgium, Prussia and England, subsequently boarding from Bordeaux bound for La Habana, arriving at that port on April 10, 1845.

Once incorporated into his new duties, he undertook the drafting of the Memorias of his tour through Europe, as a result of which he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of infantry in 1846. Immediately thereafter, he was tasked with surveying the course of the Zaza River, directing the construction of the Cavalry Barracks of Trinidad and preparing a project for the expansion of the wharf of Cienfuegos. With his return to the capital in 1847, he served as Engineer of the Junta de Fomento overseeing works such as the San Jorge bridge over the Bacuranao River, the Vegas bridge, the Pontón de Carrión and the construction of the Calzada a San Cristóbal by Guanajay.

During the fruitful period of his work that extended until 1854, he participated in the completion of approximately 200 works, including the first telegraph lines that existed in Cuba, the remodeling and expansion of the wharves of the Havana port, the Jardín Botánico de la Habana, the building for the Meteorological Observatory, the Casa de la Junta General de Comercio y Lonja Mercantil, and the Chair of Agronomy, as well as the development of a Central Highway project. From 1858 onwards he was in charge of the technical management of railroads, participated as a tribunal in the selection of projects for the Cementerio de Colón in La Habana and the Teatro Esteban (today Sauto) of Matanzas, and also developed the first proposal for the Malecón habanero, to mention only some relevant tasks.

The work that by its magnitude and significance made Francisco de Albear a symbol was, without a doubt, the development of the Project for conducting to La Habana the waters from the springs of Vento in 1855, and its extremely complex subsequent execution, to which he dedicated the last 30 years of his life, which ended in the capital of the Island on October 23, 1887, which is why the completion of this work fell to his student, Colonel of Engineers Joaquín Ruiz, who maintained the original plans of his master, and was finally inaugurated on January 23, 1893.

But Albear was not only the illustrious engineer in charge of numerous and valuable monumental works, but also participated in various scientific institutions in Cuba and other countries. Thus, among others, he was a corresponding member of the Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales de Madrid; an ordinary member of the Sociedad Científica de Bruselas; honorary and corresponding member of the Sociedad Británica de Fomento de Artes e Industrias; a member of merit of the Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País de La Habana; and a member and member of merit of the Real Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de La Habana, in which he held the position of vice-president.

His masterwork, named in his honor as the "Acueducto de Albear," which still functions in our day, was awarded a gold medal at the Exposición Universal de París in 1878, with a citation that immortalized him for posterity, being presented to him "as a reward for his work, worthy of study even in its smallest details, and which can be considered as a masterpiece."